ICUGirl

Yes, I believe pay increases would've helped to keep many of our nurses. But also, we did have bad working conditions which helped to catapult nurses right out of our unit into the travel world. So, it was a combination of bad working conditions and the lack of pay. Many of our nurses would learn how much the travel nurses were making doing the same job under the same bad working conditions and would become bitter. So, to solve that problem, they became travel nurses too. But we were like family, so I believe had they used that money to pay their permanent staff, those nurses would've stayed even under the current working conditions. Many of them are coming back to my hospital, but as travel nurses.

My facility has 32 beds and we're a mixed unit. The charge nurse is also the rapid response nurse, code blue nurse, and also the code stroke nurse. So we try very hard not to give them patients, but what often happens is that during the shift, an admission comes up which needs to be a 1:1, or maybe a nurse doesn't show up to work, so then the charge nurse ends up having to pick up a patient or even a whole team. I don't believe that charge nurses should have patients. They need to be available to their staff, and shouldn't be distracted with caring for their own patients, or vise versa. If your ICU's are anything like my ICU, the charge nurse is all over the place. It's not fair to their patients to have a distracted nurse who's constantly leaving the bedside to take care of fires going on everywhere else on the unit, or even on other units.

The problem we're having is that most of our nurses are jumping ship and running off to become travel nurses where the pay is 3-5 times their going rate. We have lost so many nurses since the start of the pandemic. We've had to hire travel nurses to supplement the ones leaving, and we're still short staffed. Everyday we get word that someone else is quitting. We now have more travel nurses than regular staff.

Has anyone been in nursing for a long time and avoided varicose veins by wearing support stockings? do they really prevent the veins from popping out?

That kind of behavior is UNACCEPTABLE!!! We should not ever put up with that kind of crap from anyone. I think you should talk to your charge nurse and set her straight. Someone needs to. Otherwise, she'll continue to yell at people in front of their peers. This kind of behavior needs to be nipped in the butt and not tolerated. It sickens me that this profession seems to be notorius for this kind of behavior. Its embarrassing and contributes to the disrespect that people have for our profession. The RN unfortunately was very childish in going to the charge nurse to tattle tale on you when she could have solved the problem with you and only you. You don't sound like an unreasonable person. I'm sure the two of you could've solved this situation beautifully if this nurse wasn't so bent on getting you in trouble. Can you tell that I'm a bit irritated? I have never been in a profession that had this sort of mentality. I don't think I will ever get used to it. Do what you feel is right. Take care of yourself in the mean time. The next time your step daughter falls asleep, I'd wake her up and tell her that she can go home to sleep. I know that you don't want to rock the boat considering she's part of the family; but she needs to learn responsibility and taking care of a 9 month old isn't for those who don't take the job seriously. Anyway, I truly truly feel for you. You seem like such a good person and good people should not have to be treated this way. Let us know if things get better.

I also have a terrible time doing public speaking. I don't know what it is. I think its a fear of looking stupid in front of your peers and even potential co-workers. This fear of public speaking prevents me from furthering my education. I don't know how I got through nursing school. It's strange. I don't have a problem talking to people, though I'm more introverted than I am extroverted. I have a problem speaking in front of a crowd. I don't have a problem talking to doctors or even confronting them when necessary. I feel I'm good with communicating with my patients and their families, etc...but when it comes time to talk in front of an audience, I become terrified. I sweat, I shake, I forget what I'm supposed to say, I feel like an idiot. Sometimes I wonder why there has to be public speaking in order to complete the program. I want to be a CRNA; not an instructor or public speaker. Is that a bad attitude or what?!